Low-priced Intel tablets for students

First batch available starting April

The ‘national tablet initiative for youth’ project by the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT) will be activated as of this April. The program will allow students to buy tablet PCs at a reduced price by contracting a two-year bank loan at zero percent interest.

Hussam Kayyal, MoT advisor, said Intel won the tender for providing 15,000 WiFi- and 3G-enabled computer tablets. “We are currently in the pre-ordering stage, and we will request up to 7,500 units for the first phase,” he said. The MoT expects to order over 200,000 tablets within the coming 18 months.

The tablets will be available to students between the ages of six and 18 years in public and private schools. The initiative aims at promoting computer-based learning in schools. Kayyal said the initiative mainly targets medium to low-income families so that students of all classes would be able to benefit from the e-learning process.

The program is supported by the Ministry of Education, the Central Bank (BDL), the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), and the two mobile operators Touch and Alfa. The BDL has already pledged interest-free loans for the initiative.

An agreement was signed with BLOM Bank for collecting the monthly installments. “Monthly payments are fixed at $19.9, and include the tablet price and Internet connection costs.” He said students will be saving up to 60 percent of the cost of both the device and the service.

A pilot phase will be launched in April with 1,500 tablets that will be granted for free to selected students at public schools.

Tablet requests can be made through an application form filled online through the websites of Alfa or Touch, at schools, or at any LibanPost branch. Accepted requests will receive approval within two working days. Devices will then be dispatched to the nearest Liban Post office.

As part of the memorandum of understanding, Intel will work with Triple C, a local IT solutions provider, to distribute the tablets.